TestyTim.com

TestyTim.com

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A Threads I Can Follow

By Timothy R. Butler | Jul 05, 2023 at 11:08 PM

Meta has launched another social network, “Threads.” I signed up but already knew when I did that I wouldn’t be an active user. I hope many others will join me in not using it. I also hope it succeeds for the good of the Internet.

If WWDC23 Had Steve Jobs Instead of a Vision Pro

By Timothy R. Butler | Jun 12, 2023 at 9:30 AM

Last week, I grumbled about Apple’s “vision” which is visionless at worst and horribly dystopian at best. What could have been different? I found myself imagining what WWDC23’s big announcement might have been if Steve Jobs were still living.

Some Visions Aren't Worth Having

By Timothy R. Butler | Jun 07, 2023 at 10:20 PM

I watch Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) keynote every year like people watch the Superbowl — snacks, celebratory anticipation, the works. The greatest ones over the years remain memorable long after, conveying master showmanship and a clarity of vision for technology that makes life better. Ironically, while introducing a device called Vision Pro, this year’s conference felt like an aimless stumble towards dystopia.

How to (Not) Save 24 Hours with Cell Phone Customer Service

By Timothy R. Butler | Apr 19, 2023 at 8:12 PM

I sometimes wonder how we get anything done at all. Usually, I wonder that while sitting on hold with customer service. I especially find myself wondering that when said customer service has to do with cellular service. I was wondering that today.

Living In Our New Surveillance Society

By Dennis E. Powell | Feb 08, 2023 at 11:08 PM
The news this morning was only a little surprising: the famous Cedars-Sinai medical conglomerate and hospital is being sued for selling patient information to Facebook a/k/a Meta, who in turn would sell it to others.

The Less-Famous Space Shuttle Disaster

By Dennis E. Powell | Feb 01, 2023 at 5:38 PM

Twenty year ago this morning I was having coffee when I remembered that the space shuttle was landing, so I turned on the television to watch it. Everything seemed yawningly normal. But then I was interrupted mid-yawn — a very unpleasant sensation, though not as bad as a stifled sneeze — when the commander and pilot of the shuttle failed to respond to calls from the flight controller.

The Death of a Whistleblower

By Dennis E. Powell | Feb 01, 2023 at 5:30 PM

As part of Dennis E. Powell’s twentieth anniversary remembrance of the second shuttle disaster, we are republishing this third part of Dennis E. Powell’s late 80’s and early 90’s cover stories on NASA safety practices that he wrote for TROPIC, the magazine of The Miami Herald. In this piece Powell tells the story of former NASA engineer Bill McInnis who cared too much.

Risky Business

By Dennis E. Powell | Feb 01, 2023 at 5:10 PM

As part of Dennis E. Powell’s twentieth anniversary remembrance of the second shuttle disaster, we are republishing this crucial investigation into NASA’s space shuttle safety practices that he wrote for TROPIC, the magazine of The Miami Herald, on April 9, 1989.

Obviously, a Major Malfunction

First came the bang. Then . . . silence. A story about catastrophe and coverup.

By Dennis E. Powell | Feb 01, 2023 at 5:00 PM

As part of Dennis E. Powell’s twentieth anniversary remembrance of the second shuttle disaster, we are republishing his groundbreaking piece on the earlier Challenger disaster that was the cover story for TROPIC, the magazine of The Miami Herald, on November 13, 1988.

A Quarter Century of Linux

By Dennis E. Powell | Jan 25, 2023 at 4:13 PM

The Linux operating system for Intel-architecture personal computers wasn’t exactly new when I switched to it. There were already a number of publishers — I choose the word carefully; you’ll see why — who were offering their own versions, which were similar in some ways yet mostly incompatible with each other.

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